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Witten Ladies Seminar

Due to the rescheduling of the seminar, Kyeongseon and I attended this year’s seminar from London. I am told it was the 8th year’s seminar with Sato sensei in Witten. I met Kyeongseon at Luton Airport on 2nd Nov and we flew together to Dortmund. I met her for the first time at the airport, and noticed her shinai bag so I thought it’s got to be her!!

When we landed at Dortmund airport, it was raining, so we took a taxi to the hotel: Hans George and in spite of me thinking there might be language problem, the check in went very smoothly. We had a twin room with a sofa, which could be 3rd bed. It was very roomy and en suite and opposite the hotel, there was a supermarket. There was not much time, so we quickly popped in and got something to eat before we headed to the Sport centre for evening practice. Because it was dark and raining, we took a taxi again from the hotel to the centre. When we arrived, there were already about 30 people there.

Kyeongseon was in Witten last month as well, so she quickly met some people she knew. For me it was the first, so I didn’t know anybody, but recognized Sigrun Caspary sensei from the web site photos. Soon Sato sensei came with Horiba sensei and keiko started the shinai practice. Sato and Horiba sensei emphasized the importance of correct suburi, then kihon keiko. We finished about 9:30 p.m. and fortunately we were able to leave our bogu in the dojo rather than dragging it back to the hotel some of the girls slept there in the dojo and told us the next day that it was very cold over night!! Anna, one of the Witten members gave us a left to the hotel and also very kindly picked us up in the morning.

I had been working all week, even that Friday morning and was quite tired, so I crashed on my bed, as soon as we got back, as did Kyeongseon, however even though we were both very tired, we spent a long time chatting about kendo, until we could not keep our eyes open any more. A good breakfast was provided at 7:30 am and Kyeongseon said that the lady makes very nice scramble egg, so we ordered that and rolls, ham, dry meat, yoghurt and some fruit to follow.

Anna picked us up at 8:45 and we drove to the centre. The seminar started with speeches by Sato, Horiba and Caspary sensei and about 40 people attended, the majority being from Germany, but there were also people from Austria, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and England (well Kyeongseon and I are not English, but we are from England ) Sato sensei told us that Horiba sensei had won the all Japan ladies championships and that she was the 2nd lady to became a the 7th Dan, Sato sensei herself being the first Horiba sensei also said that Sato sensei is very fine kendo instructor with high qualifications. The practice then started with Nihon Kendo kata, Kyeongseon and I had bruised and sore knees due to the hard floor from practicing nanahonme. Hildegard the sensei from Stuttgart came to us and kindly taught us, “saying again, again, again” After the kata keiko we practiced suburi with only the left hand, also makikaeshi right and left sides, like cheer girls in American football with okuriashi , it was bit like organized chaos as we clashed shinai and bumped into each other rather a lot, but it was great fun then we all did kihon waza.

At last it was lunch time which was supplied by the dojo and we had glass noodles with vegetables and rice. (Spicy and very nice) there was squash soup home made by one of the members, this was very tasty, followed by sweet, yoghurt, juice, water, Tea or coffee.

2:30 pm saw us starting the afternoon session, this was kihon keiko ho and jigeiko. Sato sensei pointed out that or suburi in the morning was ok, but when we did Jigeiko, we all went back to our bad habits, so it was back to basics to finish the first day’s session.

Caspary sensei had arranged that we all could go to a hotel restaurant near by and we all went together, it was very nice big room. Sitting opposite were two of the Swiss girls, Malsa and Sandra and next to us were two of German some girls from Austria. The youngest girl from Austria was only 16 years old and her mother rang her in the middle of the dinner to make sure she wasn’t drinking; she told her she wasn’t, (I confirmed that as well), however she mentioned that her escorting people were drinking nearly everybody nearly spurted out their beer and burst out laughing. We were about 40 people in the restaurant and there seemed to be only one cook and one waiter so some had to wait for some time to be served drinks and also the meals. I was quite lucky as I didn’t wait to long, but poor Kyeongseon had to wait about two hours for her meal, but we all enjoyed the food and the evening very much indeed. On Sunday we had breakfast at 7:30 am and then checked out the hotel.

Arriving at the centre we started again practicing suburi with only the left hand and also the practice of makikaeshi right and left with okuriashi, this time we much got better and there was less bumping around. This was followed by kihon keiko ho, jigeiko and finally a short shiai. Then it was time was up and very sad to say 'Good bye' to everybody, but all who attended said ‘see you next time if not before’.

Throughout the seminar, Sato & Horiba sensei stressed continually about correct shinai uchi. Sato sensei pointed out that we should use more energy when we lift the shinai up, rather than when we cut down, therefore the emphasis should always be cutting down and she also stressed how beneficial the practice of suburi using only the left hand really is and that the makikaeshi practice makes the hands and joints soft and flexible resulting in a good ‘snapping action’ when we cut.

Sato sensei also said that quite a lot of people had good fumikomiashi but with haneashi which is very bad and that we should correct this straight away

Sato sensei and Horiba sensei were so marvelous and equally Caspary sensei, Hildegard sensei, Donatella sensei and Jordan sensei all taught me so much the BIG problem is how can I remember it all I have blisters on my left hand and foot, with bruised and very sore knees but no problem as I learnt such a lot at this seminar and couldn’t help noticing how very high the standard is there

Now I try to remember but my memory is failing very fast, so I have to get back to practice straightway and look forward to next years seminar

Masami Hudson